A.C.E.

School of Tomorrow Curriculum

Our First Choice of Curriculums, with Highest Recommendations, It Works!

Since 1970, the A.C.E./School of Tomorrow Curriculum has been a proven and highly successful program which majors on these distinctives:

  • Places child at exact academic ability by diagnostic testing
  • A solid back-to-basics education program.
  • A course of study individualized to meet a child’s specific needs and learning capabilities.
  • Incorporates goal setting, character-building, and wisdom principles.
  • Teaches critical thinking skills.
  • Encourages parental involvement.
  • Produces academic excellence.

The A.C.E./School of Tomorrow curriculum is built upon these five basic laws of learning:

  • Students must be at levels where they can perform.
  • Reasonable goals must be set.
  • Students must be controlled and motivated.
  • Learning must be measurable.
  • Learning must be rewarded.

We have found this program to have a great impact on the lives of young people, instilling the philosophy of Christian character in their thinking. The curriculum is non-denominational and provides a theistic course of study that not only teaches that the Bible is the accurate Word of God, but also teaches every subject from the Biblical point of view.

The materials are prescribed individually.

A student can move ahead faster or go slower at the best rate for him. He is not locked into a schedule that goes on regardless of whether he has learned the material. Neither is he required to wait for others when he is ready to advance. This is the essence of the mastery system. Individualization makes it possible for each student to master the subject before moving on. Such mastery is the foundation upon which all future learning is built. Individualization produces academic excellence. Students take responsibility for their own learning. Biblical character training received as part of this learning experience prepares students to welcome and accept challenges and future opportunities that come their way.

The materials teach character.

Biblical values and concepts considered foundational to relationships and productive living are conveyed throughout the curriculum in such a way as to become life-shaping influences. Character traits like kindness, loyalty, and honesty, are taught within the curriculum, whether it is Math, English, History, or whatever course the student takes. Students observe character development in cartoon strips and then apply the character lesson to their own lives.

The materials are self-instructional.

Using the ACE materials, a student is able to work on his self-instructional PACEs (Packets of Accelerated Christian Education) even when the parent/supervisor is giving attention to another child. The student can work independently and learn how to take responsibility for learning. Although parents are not required to lecture or make lesson plans, they do need to be present during study times to supervise, motivate, and occasionally explain instructions or lead students in a thought process to arrive at an answer. The ACE curriculum is ideal because it allows students to study individually with minimum assistance.

What is a PACE?

What is a PACE?

ACE has taken the conventional textbook and divided it into bite-sized, achievable, worktexts called PACEs. Each PACE is equivalent to a chapter in a textbook. Each grade level consists of 12 PACEs in each subject. PACEs integrate character-building lessons into the academic content. Carefully designed to develop thinking skills and create mastery learning, PACEs have many unique features. Students begin their PACE work by reciting their goals – the concepts they will learn, a Bible verse, and a corresponding character trait. From the very beginning they know what is expected and they assume the responsibility for their own learning! Full color explanations and illustrations add excitement to each lesson. Innovative learning activities reinforce the interesting text material. The Checkup is a mini test covering a section of the PACE. If mastery in an area is not achieved, the Checkup will reveal weak areas. In unusually challenging concepts, student and instructor can take the time necessary to review and learn those concepts. Upon completion of the activities and Checkups, students prepare to take the Self Test – a practice test. With this Step students evaluate themselves to determine readiness for the final Test. When the Self Test is successfully completed, the student turns in the PACE and takes the final Test the next morning. The final Test objectively measures student mastery of the material. Curriculum is available for first grade through high school in PACE form. ACE has designed their curriculum on twelve levels of work, with 1001 thru 1012 being level one, 1013-1024 being level two, and so forth, all the way to 1144. The student should complete, on the average, twelve PACEs a year in any given subject. Twelve in Math, twelve in English, etc. This is the average. Some will do more and others less. The learning limited are never left behind, and the academically gifted are never held back. Students in grades 1st through 8th work in five main subjects (Math, English, Social Studies, Science, and Word Building). Students in 2nd through 5th grade do Creative Writing as a sixth subject. In High School, students do six subjects and concentrate on required courses for earning credits. Every twelve PACEs completed in High School counts as one credit and every six completed as one-half credit. In a normal school year, a student should complete a total of 60 to 72 PACEs of work. Careful attention should be given by the parent (supervisor) that each student keeps a balance in the subjects in which he is working and that he is completing about the same number of PACEs in each subject.

 

 

 

Placement of Student in ACE Curriculum – Diagnostic Testing

Diagnosis refers to the testing by which a student’s achievement levels are determined. Proper academic diagnosis is vital to academic success and cannot be stressed too much. Past experience has proven that a child’s promotion from one grade to another does not necessarily indicate that all materials have been mastered at that level. In view of this, students should not be assigned academic work on the basis of grade level or on the basis of age. Instead, students should take our diagnostic tests in the areas of English, Math, and Word Building to determine skill and concept mastery. Directions for giving the tests and determining where they should begin are included in the tests. There are score keys available, so you can score these tests yourself. Once scored, students are prescribed curriculum based on their diagnosed level of academic achievement. The English diagnostic test covers levels one to eight. There are two separate tests for Math; the levels one to six test, and the intermediate math tests for levels six to eight. The Word Building diagnostic test is contained in the back of the score key for the English diagnostic test. There are tests for Social Studies and Science to determine their reading comprehension level, but you can determine this by looking at a recent achievement test, without necessarily having to this test. If weak areas are evident from the testing, the appropriate PACEs are prescribed to strengthen specific weaknesses. After completing the gap PACEs, the student begins continuous progress at his achievement level. Generally, a student is placed in the curriculum at the beginning of his performance level, according to the diagnostic tests. If the student demonstrates mastery at all levels of testing (thru eighth level) and is in high school, he has the ability to function at his chronological grade level in the high school curriculum.

A.C.E. Diagnostic Test
Item No. Description Price Used To…
91 ABC’s Reading Readiness Test $6.00 (us) Administer to students who have never been in school and do not know how to read.
468 & 465 Lower Math Diagnostic Test & Key $6.00 (us) each Test students skills in math. Covers grade levels 1 through 6. (PACEs 1001 -1060)
444 & 445 Intermediate Math Diagnostic Test & Key $6.00 (us) each Test students math skills on grade levels 6 to 8. (PACEs 1061-1096) To be given to high school students also.
437 & 438 English Diagnostic Test & Key Which Contains Word Building (Spelling) Diagnostic Test $6.00 (us) each To test students skills in grammar on levels 1 to 8. To be given to high school students also.
462 Social Studies & Science Diagnostic Test (includes key) $6.00 (us) Used to determine reading and comprehension level of student.

IMPORTANT When deciding on which tests to give your students, be sure and give a test that starts two grade levels below your students current grade. For High School students, give them the English and Intermediate Math Diag. Tests. Even though these tests only go through level eight, you want to be sure they have mastered concepts to this point. If your High School student passes the tests with no problems, then you can start them on the appropriate level for their grade (an eleventh grader in eleventh level English) or put them in the subject they need next (if they have had Algebra I then put them in Geometry).

 

 

PACE CONVERSION This chart can be used to determine the approximate grade level of any PACE. For instance, PACE 1074 corresponds to the early seventh grade.
Grade 1 / Level 1 1001 1002 1003 1004 1005 1006 1007 1008 1009 1010 1011 1012
Grade 2 / Level 2 1013 1014 1015 1016 1017 1018 1019 1020 1021 1022 1023 1024
Grade 3 / Level 3 1025 1026 1027 1028 1029 1030 1031 1032 1033 1034 1035 1036
Grade 4 / Level 4 1037 1038 1039 1040 1041 1042 1043 1044 1045 1046 1047 1048
Grade 5 / Level 5 1049 1050 1051 1052 1053 1054 1055 1056 1057 1058 1059 1060
Grade 6 / Level 6 1061 1062 1063 1064 1065 1066 1067 1068 1069 1070 1071 1072
Grade 7 / Level 7 1073 1074 1075 1076 1077 1078 1079 1080 1081 1082 1083 1084
Grade 8 / Level 8 1085 1086 1087 1088 1089 1090 1091 1092 1093 1094 1095 1096
Grade 9 / Level 9 1097 1098 1099 1100 1101 1102 1103 1104 1105 1106 1107 1108
Grade 10 / Level 10 1109 1110 1111 1112 1113 1114 1115 1116 1117 1118 1119 1120
Grade 11 / Level 11 1121 1122 1123 1124 1125 1126 1127 1128 1129 1130 1131 1132
Grade 12 / Level 12 1133 1134 1135 1136 1137 1138 1139 1140 1141 1142 1143 1144

School of Tomorrow refers to each grade as a curriculum level. Throughout the academic year, a student may be working on a different level of PACE work in each subject, depending on his ability and accomplishments or how he was placed by diagnostic testing. School of Tomorrow PACEs are marked only with numbers, and no grade level is ever used. “What about a grade classification for my student?” You may classify your student in a grade according to their age, not by level of work.

How to use A.C.E. / School of Tomorrow at Home
Setting up a Learning Center at Home Here are some practical considerations that will make it easier for you to use School of Tomorrow at home: Select a room in which your student can work with minimal distractions and make sure it has good lighting. This can be the corner of a living room, bedroom, or dining room. You will want to provide some place in the room for a bulletin board where your student’s Goal Chart and Star Chart can be displayed. Each student you have should have their own individual work space. You will need to provide a scoring and testing area. This needs to be near the area where the one supervising will be most of the school day, so scoring and testing can be visually supervised.
Record Keeping Record keeping is of utmost importance. The following items can be purchased in a ACE Home School Record Keeping Kit. Daily Goal Cards are used to enter the exact PACE page numbers to be completed each day in each subject. The Student Progress Chart or Star Chart is a motivational tool. Each time the student completes a PACE the student places a stick-on star in the appropriate space on his chart. The Supervisor’s Progress Card is used to record PACE test scores and the Progress Report Card for quarterly reports and grades. The Permanent Record card serves as a transcript for recording end of the year grades.
Start the School Day Right Being consistent is one of the key factors to having a successful school day. Getting up at the same time each day. Getting dressed for school, having a good breakfast, devotions, and starting school on time each day, is very important. Establish a routine and schedule, with mornings devoted to PACE work, leaving afternoons for other activities.
Beginning Work in the PACEs After your child has been diagnosed, and the PACEs prescribed for his appropriate level, (including any learning gap PACEs), issue the lowest numbered PACE in each subject to the student. Remove the final test from the center of the PACE. Lower level students should read aloud to you the “Objectives” and “Vocabulary” on page one. Have the student scan the PACE and read over the self-test at the end of the PACE. Now the student can begin work, always using a pencil. This is where your Daily Goal Cards comes into use. On the Daily Goal Card write in the page numbers you want the student to complete for the school day. Students on the first four levels should complete 3 to 4 pages of work a day in each subject. Students on levels 5 to 7 at least 4 pages in each subject ,and levels 8 and up at between 4 and 6 pages. Eventually train your student to set their own page goals each day.

Scoring Procedures Each school day the student’s work should be scored and corrected by the student. The School of Tomorrow curriculum has answer keys (score keys) and test keys that contain all of the right answers to PACEs the students are working in. We recommend that you purchase the answer keys for your student from at least the fourth level up. Answer keys are available for the first three levels, but the work is basic, so, you can score these yourself and have the student do corrections. With the use of the answer keys, students, under the supervision of the parent/teacher, can score their work in every subject each day and make appropriate corrections. The scoring process is very essential to the success of your school. Taking advantage of the scoring area you have set up in your home, each time the student completes a goal on his Goal Card, he comes to the scoring area, with permission, to score his work. The student needs to be visually supervised by the parent during this process. Give the student the answer key and a red ink pen. Then follow these steps:

  1. Using a red “X”, the student marks incorrect answers.
  2. The student returns to his work area to correct wrong answers.
  3. The student rescores the PACE with permission and circles the red “X” when correct.

The student repeats this procedure until all answers are correct.Before letting the student use the answer key, be sure and remove the test key from the center of the answer key. The test key will be used to score the final tests. At all times it is the parent who oversees the student’s progress. Look over the child’s work, and interact with the child on a one-to-one basis noticing and evaluating incorrect or correct answers, thus helping to stimulate discussion of the child’s responses to questions.

Checkups and Self-Test Each PACE contains 3 Checkups. The Checkups are designed to let you see how the student is progressing. They should be taken like a test without looking back in the PACE for answers. The student should score 90% before going on in the PACE. If below 90%, review and quiz the student on incorrect answers before moving on. Before taking the Self Test (at the end of the PACE), the student reviews all check-ups and vocabulary. Make sure all work has been completed and corrected. The student then takes the self-test without looking back in the PACE for answers. Follow the same procedures as checkups. Students should thoroughly review incorrect answers. The parent should quiz the student to be sure the student understands all concepts.

Final PACE Test The final PACE test is taken the next morning in your designated testing area under parental supervision. A Pace score of 80% or more (or 90% on PACEs 1-36 in all subjects and all Word Building Tests) indicates your child can be issued the next scheduled PACE. He is given a star for his Student Progress Chart. He should repeat the PACE, however, if his score is below 80% (on PACEs 1-36, if below 90%, review PACE and give test again).

 

 

 

Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) Curriculum for Grades 1 Through 12

Placement Testing is performed to place students in curriculum

Grade Level Math English Social Studies Science Word Building Creative Writing & Literature High School Electives
1st 0 to 10 Add and Subtraction Reviews Consonants and Vowels Builds Reading Skills Basic Principles of Life Builds Reading Skills Creation, Human Body, Health Care Phonetic Skills, Goes with ABC’s with Ace & Christi
2nd Count by twos, fives & tens; Carry & Borrowing; Telling Time Punctuation, Parts of Speech, Reading Comprehension Builds Reading Skills Our Nation & Great Leaders Builds Reading Skills Creation in detail God & Man Spelling/Vocabulary 20 words each PACE Use imagination, visualize, give creative responses to one page stories
3rd Two & Three Digit Addition and Subtraction Measurements Types of Sentences Parts of Speech Cursive Introduced Discovery of America Communities Agriculture Life Cycle Geology Solar System Spelling/Vocabulary 40 words each PACE Critical Thinking Skills – Requires two resource books
4th Addition & Subtraction Multiplication Basic Grammar Maps, Globes, Geography, Cultures Laws of Nature Scientific Observations Spelling/Vocabulary 50 words each PACE Creativity encouraged – Six required resource books.
5th Division Multiplication Fractions & Decimals Basic Grammar: Eight Parts of Speech American History Basic Earth Science Spelling/Vocabulary 50 words each PACE Creativity & Critical Thinking – Six required resource books
6th Fractions Decimals Grammar Concepts Bible and Church History Electricity, Magnets & Anatomy Spelling/Vocabulary 65 words each PACE Creativity & Critical Thinking – Six required resource books
7th Percentages; Consumer Math; Pre-Geometry Grammar Concepts: Diagramming Vocational Studies Florida History Life Science Spelling/Vocabulary 65 words each PACE
8th Pre-Algebra; Consumer Math Grammar Concepts: Sentence Structure American History Earth/Space Science Spelling/Vocabulary 65 words each PACE
9th Algebra I English I: Grammar, Writing World History Biology I Elective / Etymology Word Origins N.T. Survey

Health/Life Management

Beginning Art

10th Geometry English II: Paragraphs, Poetry American History Physical Science Speech

Music Appreciation

O.T. Survey

11th Algebra II English III: American Literature U.S. Civics Economics Chemistry Life of Christ

General Business

Typing

Missions

12th Trigonometry English IV: British Literature World Geography Physics Business Math Advanced Art

Successful Living